When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school:
I like!
No thanks!
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32 commentsReplies
CocktailsMalIntent said, (112 days ago)
i realize that most of the important stuff had fuck all to do with classes.
Previous Toast said, (112 days ago)
I kind of wish I had gone to college after my Sophomore year.
I take comfort in the fact that most of my high school class will never move out of the city limits for any extended time.
andrewjthomas said, (112 days ago)
It's a wonder I can think at all... though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none...
nomi oh my said, (112 days ago)
... it was half of my life ago. I am literally twice as old as I was when I graduated.
Britt said, (112 days ago)
I'm IN high school and I realise this. The unfortunate thing about it is, since I know none of it is actually important, I find it impossible to motivate myself and don't feel the need to try. It's self defeating and horrible, but ALMOST OVER. People like all of you who survived are my heroes.
Salomea said, (112 days ago)
I actually wish I remembered more of it. It gave me a pretty solid introduction to a lot of basics that I feel people should be familiar with. College was useful in making me a more developed individual, but I was better-rounded in high school... I regret the fact that I am no longer as familiar with biology, chemistry, calculus, and so on as I am with my primary subject.
FiZ said, (112 days ago)
I just wish there was more of "it" to remember. My high school dumbed everything down to a point where I couldn't find the inspiration to give a shit. I remember the curriculum actually going backwards by the time I graduated.
oimoi said, (112 days ago)
I wonder what it was all for. In the crucible of childhood we put off the trials of adulthood, trading an education for this queer social experiment and the bare memorization of facts and systems we knew not the significance of.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (112 days ago)
@britt: Just start counting the days and getting what needs to be done done. it's the educational version of closing your eyes and thinking of england.
@salomea: i've toyed with the idea of auditing a bunch of 101 classes somewhere, i think it'd be fun.
@FiZ: that's just sad.
@oimoi: well, there's no initiation ritual in western society, not really anyways, so we have to have something for pubescent kids to do that brings them from childhood into adulthood. there's also some pretense of education in the socialization process.
oimoi said, (112 days ago)
How exactly does high school bring pubescent kids from childhood into adulthood? Isn't it really just some place we stick them until the passage of an arbitrary set of years arbitrarily makes it so? Socialization will always happen when you spend time in a group, and without responsible guidance a group is a mean form of humanity.
Skanko said, (112 days ago)
i find out there were a lot more girls that were into me than i realized.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (112 days ago)
@oimoi: it doesn't, but then again neither does ritual tattooing or getting bitten by bullet ants in a special ceremony. the turn from childhood into adult is arbitrary in and of itself and is usually used as a form of control (as school is) and as a way of imparting societal norms and leaving the kids feeling complicit in the system and obligated to carry it on.
i meant socialization in terms of being taught how society functions from an authority, not in terms of the cliques that exist and whathaveyou. school teaches kids to listen to arbitrary authority figures blindly, to respond to commands that they sit down and shut up, and that veering from the accepted behaviors will result in punishments, humiliation, or extra work.
IceOwl said, (112 days ago)
I think that depends on the group. My friends, in high school, while they had their typical high school kind of drama, didn't really do anything particularly stupid as a group.
What I learned in high school is that you have to participate in some of the stupid stuff like dances at least some of the time, or you miss out on quite a lot.
oimoi said, (112 days ago)
Whatever rites of passage may lack in reason, they make up for in social and spiritual significance. They can be an equalizer, distilling society into those that have passed through that rite, and those that have not. High school seems to uphold a hierarchy from beginning to end, which makes it less a rite of passage within a community, and more a sorting system for humans. One sanctifies the individual as the basic unit of society, the other demotes him to the position of a cog in a great machine.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (112 days ago)
and that's what we get initiated into, the great machine. high schools are designed to take kids and turn them into pieces of equipment that can be slotted into society. i would say that initiation rituals fill the same role. it's all about what is expected from adults. ours doesn't have the spiritual significance, but both take kids and teach them "this is the role you have in our society, this is what is expected of you."
we don't test for bravery or endurance or any of those things, and it isn't a single act that proves worth, but you are tested on your ability to operate within the system.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (112 days ago)
well, to a certain degree. after high school you are officially an adult (except for that drinking thing) and expected to be a productive member of society in some way.
Salomea said, (112 days ago)
What kind of schools did you all go to?
Mine actually, you know, taught me stuff. About math, history, literature, critical analysis, science, etc. Which I think is pretty useful to have a basic understanding of the world and various other concepts.
So I have no idea what oimois' talking about regarding it being "just a place to stick people into until they're 18."
oimoi said, (112 days ago)
I would not be quick to assume that the state of education in the United States is altogether good.
IceOwl said, (112 days ago)
I went to a public high school. They had lots of interesting subjects, but I was always told I shouldn't strive to be anything better than average, so I didn't try much of anything and I really regret it now.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (111 days ago)
@sal: actually, i was lucky. i went to a private school and got a really good education, but talking to some folks who went to public school...a lot of follow these rules, rote response to questions, regurgitate this information, don't think for yourself, don't be creative.
@oi: productive members of society work jobs, pay their taxes, don't complain, obey the law, and don't rock the boat or try to enact change.
Salomea said, (111 days ago)
I went to a public high school too. Sometimes they do stifle creativity, but sometimes people need to learn that they're not that special and their "original thinking" isn't that original, and they need to shut up and learn the basics before they can start being creative with them.
In retrospect, a lot of times that I thought I was being cool and thinking-for-myself, I was just being a naive tool and snooty about it.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (111 days ago)
@el: it's simon and garfunkle originally.
@Bmmanda: kodachrome is the name of the song.
@sal: but where is the creative/tool line?
Salomea said, (111 days ago)
For me, at the point where you can see why people are making you memorize things and how they are useful. :-) Once you get that, you get to be creative.
I used to bristle when teachers would correct my run-on sentences and force me to obey other "rules" of "good writing"--like don't start a sentence with "And," etc. I was all "whatever! Those rules are stifling and arbitrary and some of my favorite authors don't abide by them!" I thought I was being a creative writer. But I was a 14-year old kid, not an experienced author, and in a year or two I realized that I was just being a bad, lazy, and self-indulgent writer rather than a creative one. After I finally figured out what it was my teachers were trying to teach me with those rules, and once I saw why they were useful and applicable and how to follow them, *then* I could make much better choices on when and how to break them. :-)
I wonder why I studied so hard